One Last Chance
by White Firebird
Summary: What would you do if your world was ripped apart? What would you do if everything you knew was changed? What would you do if you had to say "I love you" for the last time? What would you do...if you had one last chance?
1. Overview

**_One Last Chance_**

**_Plot & Overview_**

**AN: Hello everybody! This is a new fic that I just recently thought up with a friend of mine, and so now I'm gonna go ahead and start writing it, because the idea is just way too good to be sitting around while I work on my other story. I got the idea of this fic from reading a Spider-Man graphic novel titled "Brand New Day", in which the entire Spider-Man universe is basically restarted, so to speak. If you ever get the chance to get your hands on it, you should give it a read, it's really good. So this is just a basic overview of the plot, characters and setting for which this fic is going to be taking place. So if anyone's confused, don't hesitate to PM me! Thank you!**

_Time:_ 1997, then fast forward to the present.

_Settings:_ Angel Grove, Reefside, the Moon, Outer Space and an alternate dimension that will be introduced early on.

_Characters:_ Tommy, Kimberly, Rocky, Jason, Tanya, Adam, Katherine, Billy, and a few surprise characters who will be introduced later.

_The timeline is during the Zeo era, right before the Rangers gave those powers up in favor of the Turbo powers, with a few changes._

Kimberly never left for the Pan Globals. There was no letter. She stayed on with the team and gained the powers of the Pink Zeo Ranger. Her and Tommy are still together.

Katherine has the same background in which she was introduced; evil at one point, tried to kill Kim, yadda yadda, but was turned good when she made that 911 call. However, she did not gain the Ninjetti powers nor did she gain the Zeo powers. She stayed on in an advisory role throughout the end of MMPR to Zeo.

Billy has the same role as he did in Zeo; advisor to the Command Center with Alpha, watches over the gadgets, weaponry, etc.

Jason is indeed the Gold Zeo Ranger, except the twist here is that Trey was mortally wounded and could not resume the mantle of Gold Ranger, and made it so that the Gold Ranger powers could be safe for human physiology. He remains the keeper of Auric The Conqueror.

Tommy, obviously, is still the leader and Red Zeo Ranger.

Tanya has taken over for Aisha as the Yellow Zeo Ranger, like expected.

Adam and Rocky have remained in their posts as Green & Blue Zeo Rangers.

Mondo wasn't destroyed, and is still with Machina, Sprocket, Klank and Orbus.

Gasket and Archerina are still trying to overtake Mondo and rule the Machine Empire.

And that's about everything that you need to know for now...onto the story!


	2. The Beginning

_AN: Hello everybody! This is a new fic that I just recently thought up with a friend of mine, and I got the idea of this from reading a Spider-Man graphic novel titled "Brand New Day". It's the story of Brand New Day with a Power Rangers twist. This is new territory for me, so bear with me as I venture through the process of writing this! I'd really like some feedback, so please read & review, I'd appreciate it! I don't own the Power Rangers, but I wish I did. And now, on with the story!_

_July 20th, 1997._

_The Moon._

"Well would you look at that. Pathetic", muttered the tall being as he sat on his bench, his metal plated hand resting underneath his chin, retracting his telescopic vision back to where it came.

"What is it?", the sorceress behind him asked as she sat down next to him.

"Those puny teenagers destroyed another one of that pretender's monsters. I'm getting real sick of seeing this happen, even if it's not to us anymore", he said as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Well, my dear, there's not much we can do to stop it from occuring. We've been driven from our palace", she whispered as she looked up and stared out at the star-driven skies, sighing deeply.

"What makes you so sure about that?", the being scoffed as he stood up and kicked a rock, watching it soar in the air for a bit before turning back to face the woman in front of him. "So what if we were driven from our palace? We can still do something about it!", he bellowed as his voice echoed.

"What can we do? We have a motorhome, darling! A fucking _motorhome_!", she sadly screeched as she banged her fist against the metal plating of said motorhome behind her. "We can't go back to my dad's and try to take Serpentera back. He'd kill me if I showed up on his doorstep!"

"Your father is of no concern to me. What he says about me is of no concern to me. For all I care, your father can go take a flying leap off of the edge of Gamma Vile. It is my property and I will do whatever I need to do to regain possesion of it", he seethed as he kicked another rock and watched it soar.

"But Zeddykins, how many times do I have to tell you? Master Vile, my father...he's no push over!", she pleaded as she stood up and took hold of her husband's arm, trying to get him to reconsider.

"And neither am I", Lord Zedd said cooly as he shrugged Rita off of his arm and turned on his heel to go back into the motorhome. But before he could disappear behind the door, Rita came to a realization and lunged forward, grabbing his hand and dragging him back out into the open.

"What the hell is it, Rita? I want to go to sleep and get the image of those disgusting humans victory out of my mind", he snorted as he tried to break away, but found that his wife had a tight grasp on his arm.

"I just got a great idea, Zeddy! This idea could work out in our favor if we play our cards right!", she squealed in delight at the thought of it, her mind working like a computer.

"Well, what's this idea of yours, Rita? It best be good!", Zedd said as he wagged his finger in the air and felt Rita lean in close and whisper her idea to him. At first he seemed intrigued by the thought of it, but then came the deal-breaker. He was none too pleased about hearing that.

"You want to do **WHAT**?!"

--

_July 20th, 1997._

_Machine Empire Headquarters._

_The Moon._

"Those blasted Rangers did it again! What is it going to take to destroy them!?", King Mondo screamed as his many servants scurried out of the room to avoid his anger. "Why does this always happen!? Why can't they just give up and concede to me!?"

"What's wrong, darling?", crooned Queen Machina as she entered the room to find her very distraught husband hunching over a table, pounding his mechanical hands onto the table in anger. "Did those horrible Power Rangers foil our plans again?"

"The Midas Monster was one of my greatest creations...and those god damned Rangers found a way to destroy it! I had the Gold Ranger at my mercy! He was turned into a solid statue! I had their Zeo Zords on the ropes! This is unacceptable! **KLANK**!", he bellowed as his most loyal servant, Klank, entered the room, expecting the worst that his master had to offer.

"Yes, sire...what can I do for you?", Klank asked in his thick Scottish brogue as his mini module friend, Orbus, rested on his shoulder comfortably.

"What is the meaning of this!? The Midas Monster was supposed to take care of their Zeo Zords! What happened?!", Mondo yelled as Klank grimaced and took the full verbal brunt of those stinging words, while Orbus softly chuckled to himself.

_"You shut up"_, Klank ordered at Orbus, before turning to face his masters. "King Mondo, I deeply apologize for the unfortunate occurance that happened out there. I promise you that it will never happen again!"

"That's what you said the last time I sent a monster down to Earth to combat those fucking Zeo Rangers!", Mondo bellowed as he shook his fist mightily. Meanwhile, his son, Prince Sprocket, waddled into the room, cozying up to his mother.

"Daddy, what's the matter? Did Klank mess something up again?", he asked as he glared at Klank, who was still recovering from the words hurled at him by King Mondo.

"Yes son, Klank is the reason those pathetic Zeo Rangers destroyed the Midas Monster and the reason why I'm angered beyond belief", he managed to say to his son.

"Daddy, can I make a monster that destroys the Rangers? I'm sure it'll be better than anything Klank could think of!", he said with a sneer, mocking Klank, who gave the robotic son a dirty look before turning around and walking out of the room, the sickening display of favortism getting to be too much for him.

"Some day, Sprocket. Some day", Mondo muttered as Queen Machina appeared again with a two pieces of paper in her hand, holding them out for her husband to take a look at.

"What is it, my dear? The Rangers notice of giving up?", he said with a tinge of glee as he snatched the papers from her hand and began to read them, his demeanor changing as he read along.

"No, I'm afraid not, hubby...one is from...our _first son_, Prince Gasket. He is requesting that him and that she-devil Archerina be able to meet us here on the premises", she said softly as Mondo crumpled up the letter from his son and began to open the other letter.

"And this one?", he said as he tore it apart.

"It's from...Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa."

**"WHAT?!"**

--

_July 20th, 1997._

_Power Chamber._

_Angel Grove, Calfornia._

The moon was bright on this hot July night in the middle of the summer. The air was just as hot as the temperature, and the stars were all over the place as a young girl sat on the top of a formation of rocks, overlooking the city that she called home. Sweat slowly began to drip down her forehead as the young girl wiped it away with the back of her hand, sighing as she leaned back and stared directly at the moon. She blinked rapidly as she gazed into the night sky, a small smile on her lips as she put her hands behind her head to prop it up.

_"They'll be back",_ she thought to herself as she closed her eyes and remembered everything up to this point.

Kimberly Hart was approaching twenty years old, but she felt as if she had lived a long life already. She had never envisioned this life for her a few years ago, but what a difference one day can make.

About a month ago marked her fourth year as a Power Ranger. Back in the summer of 1993, before she was to begin her freshman year at Angel Grove High, her life as a preppy little valley girl changed drastically when she had been chosen by Zordon to become the Pink Power Ranger, along with her four closest friends, Jason Lee Scott, the former Red Ranger, now the Gold Zeo Ranger; Trini Kwan, the former Yellow Ranger, who was now over in Switzerland at the Teen Peace Conference; Zack Taylor, the former Black Ranger, also with Trini in Switzerland; and Billy Cranson, the former Blue Ranger, now the advisor to the Power Chamber with Alpha. She had become something she never dreamt of becoming, and because of it, her life was forever altered.

Then came along Tommy Oliver, the love of her life. He started out as the evil Green Ranger before he was turned to the good side, thanks to Jason. He had lost and then regained the Green Ranger powers before losing them for good and becoming the White Ranger. It was when he changed over from green to white that he and Kimberly became more romantic with each other. Something about seeing him in white made him seem so irresistable to her.

About a year ago though, she was faced with quite possibly the toughest decision of her young life; give up her post as the Pink Ranger to follow her dreams of becoming a world famous gymnast and competing in the Pan Globals and Olympics, and give up the life she had come to love, not to mention try a long distance relationship with Tommy, or stay behind and give up her childhood dreams of winning a gold medal for America in gymnastics. After much soul searching, she decided that her life here in Angel Grove was too important and that her love for Tommy would never be the same if she left for Florida, and thus she decided to stay on the Ranger team. In turn, their new friend that they had managed to turn good after Rita put a spell on her, Katherine Hilliard, tagged on with the team in the role that she and Billy filled out now, an advisor to the Command Center, now the Power Chamber. The gang fully expected Kim to hand over her Power Coin to Kat, but were shocked to see that she didn't. Kat, the gentle soul that she was though, took it in stride and accepted that she'd probably never be as good a Power Ranger as Kimberly was, and used her smarts to help Alpha out around the place.

Back in the beginning of the year, the Command Center was destroyed by Rita and Zedd. The Zeo Crystal, which was now the source of their power, the crystal that they had divided up into five sub crystals and spread across different points of time, the power source that they had searched so long for, was apparently lost for good as well, taken by Goldar and Rito, Rita's brother. But amongst the rubble, the group had found the Zeo Crystal, which led them to the Power Chamber underneath the ruins.

Many changes had been made. Trini, Jason and Zack left the team midway through their sophmore year at Angel Grove High to go to Switzerland, and were replaced with Aisha, Rocky and Adam. She had grown close with the three of them, Aisha in particular, and kept close contact with the three departed Rangers through letters and occasional phone calls. But Aisha had found her calling in Africa, and was replaced by Tanya, a bright girl with all the talent in the world when it came to singing. So many changes had been made, but one thing remained the same; her and Tommy's love for one another. And now that Jason was back on the team, everything was great.

Thinking about it all brought a smile to Kimberly's lips as she opened her eyes and let out a sigh as she watched the dark clouds float by in the air, alone in her thoughts before she heard a door open in the distance behind her. She sat back up and craned her neck to see who it could be, but she saw nothing. The ruins of the old Command Center had been changed, and now the Power Chamber stood in it's place. She chalked the door opening behind her up to her hearing things again as she rolled her eyes and turned her focus back towards the stars.

_"They'll be back",_ she thought to herself again. _"They'll be back, but we'll be prepared. They thought they had us when they goldarized the Super Zeo Zords, but they were proven wrong again. They'll never learn",_ she mused to herself as she chuckled, a light breeze sweeping over her body, a calming sensation that put her at ease.

**"Boo!"**

Kimberly jumped upwards, landing on her feet in her fighting stance, prepared to go a few rounds with whatever it was that was there, when she let her guard down and saw that Tommy was in front of her, laughing hysterically as he slapped his knee.

"Tommy! What was that for!?", Kim shrieked as she playfully slapped him on the shoulder, his laughter subsiding as he placed a kiss on her cheek and gave her a hug.

"Have I ever told you how cute you are when you get spooked like that?", he sang as she rolled her eyes and returned his embrace with one of her own, their bodies shining in the moon's light. After a few seconds of silence and holding each other, Kim broke off and sat back down on the rocks, her legs and feet crossed as she curled up into a ball, her arms propped on her knees. Tommy sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close to his as she rested her head on his shoulder, her eyes still fixated on the stars.

"That's no excuse for you to go and do that though. You know I scare easily."

"Aw Kim, lighten up. You know I just like to mess around."

"You like to mess around a little too much, mister."

"Oh, is that so? I'll show you messing around, missy!"

Tommy then took his arm off of Kim's shoulder and began to tickle her sides and nuzzle her neck as she giggled madly, trying to get him off of her, but liking the feeling nonetheless. After struggling for a few seconds, Kim managed to grab a hold of Tommy's wrists and spin him around, with him lying flat on his back and her on top of him, breathing heavily as she looked deep into his brown eyes, shaking her head disapprovingly while Tommy grinned at her.

"Oh, so _you_ wanna be the leader of the team now? That can be arranged."

"You are such a little kid, Tommy. You know that, right?"

"As long as I'm your little kid, Kimberly, it doesn't matter."

"Ugh, Tommy..."

She rolled her eyes and got off of him, standing up and straightening out her clothes as she took a few steps forward towards the edge of the formation, looking out at the city lights of Angel Grove. Tommy's brow furrowed in confusement as he too stood up and fixed his long hair, walking over to her and putting his hands on her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"What's the matter, Kim? You aren't being yourself tonight."

"That was a close call earlier, Tommy. You aren't worried about what Mondo might throw at us next?"

"Whatever he throws at us next, it can't be as bad as what we dealt with today. And besides, we took care of that gold goon rather easily once we formed the Zeo Ultrazord. Why're you so worried?"

"I'm worried because Mondo's monsters have had more juice behind them recently. I'm worried because I think he might be gearing up for one big strike that could take us all out. That doesn't bother you?"

"I've seen it from both sides of the playing field, Kim. Mondo may be big, but he's not that smart. We've got him on the ropes, and if we keep it up, we might see the end of the Machine Empire. And then maybe, finally, we can all live in peace."

"Maybe..."

Kimberly turned her neck to look at Tommy in the eyes, touching his face with her free hand as she stroked it gently and kissed his cheek. He smiled as he tightened the grip he had on her waist as he turned her around to face him, his calm demeanor replaced by the look of the fearless leader they had all known him to be.

"Regardless of what happens Kimberly, we were meant to be together. We will have a happy life after it's all over."

"Yeah...yeah, I suppose your right."

"I don't suppose, beautiful. I know. We will live the rest of our lives with each other."

A sad smile crept across Kim's lips as she nodded her head in approval, a small tear beginning to form in her eye as bit her lip, feeling Tommy wipe away the tear with his finger before kissing her on the forehead.

"Have I ever told you that you look wierd in red?", she suddenly blurted out.

The two of them then burst into laughter as they grabbed each other's hand and began the walk back towards the Command Center, where the rest of the group was surely analyzing data from their battle that afternoon with the Midas Monster. As the two happily walked away, Kim took one last, fleeting glance over her shoulder at the full moon. She blinked and sighed before turning back around to watch where she was walking.

_"They'll be back...but we'll be ready."_

--

The atmosphere was hot and acidic, molten rocks floating in the lava as if they were ducks gliding across a pond. The walls were red and hot to the touch, and there were fires everywhere you looked.

In the middle of the open area was a black orb, floating in the air, not to be disturbed. It looked as if it was meditating as it serenly bobbed up and down, alone amongst the molten rocks and jagged stones that littered the ground that wasn't destroyed or overrun by lava.

Suddenly though, the black orb burst, like a balloon being popped by a needle, and out of it sprung were two red, scaly, skelton-looking arms, with thin fingers, sharp nails on the ends of them. Two legs, also red, poked out of the black orb, bonier than the arms. A torso emerged, covered with an elegant black robe to hid it's skeletal features, which included, but was not limited to it's ribcage poking out under the skin, it's sternum jutting out and breaking the skin, and it's intestine swinging around as if it were a jump rope. This creature surely wasn't one to look at, that's for sure.

Finally, as the rest of the body materialzed, a wistful, old head popped out of the orb, as red as the rest of it's body. White hair fell on top of the creature's bony shoulders, wistful looking as it lazily laid there. The creature looked around his surroundings for a second, looking down at the cracked orb he had called his sleep pod, before letting out a long yawn. It had been ages since he had seen these surroundings. His lips curved as he stretched his body out, cracking noises coming from everywhere as he did so. He blinked rapidly before adjusting his black robe and taking everything in.

Deepcore had been this creature's home for many millenia. And now, it seemed, something, or someone, had requested his presence, hence the busting out of the orb. He scoffed as he tied the robe around his decrepit waist and began to make the slow walk out of the area.

"Time to go back to work..."

**AN: And with that, the first chapter is over! Sorry it ended on such a cliffhanger, but hey, it's gotta end somewhere! Please read and review! Thank you very much!**


	3. Forgetful

**AN: Here's the second chapter! Things are only gonna pick up from here, I promise you that! Once more, I don't own the Power Rangers. If I did, well, I'd be a very happy boy. On with the story!**

_9:45 AM._

_July 21st, 1997._

_Kimberly's House._

The sun was beginning to peek through the curtains to Kimberly's room as she fluttered her eyes open to adjust to the light of day. Last night had been an eventful night for her and the rest of the Zeo Rangers. After re-entering the Power Chamber with Tommy, the gang proceeded to look over countless amounts of data from the battle they had with the Midas Monster, not to mention they had to work out a few kinks on the Super Zeo Zords, which took a beating in the battle. After that adventure, the gang had all decided on watching old videos that Adam and Rocky had secretly taped over the past two years, and, as you guessed, the videos mainly revolved around their time spent holding their old Ninjetti powers. The group laughed as they watched themselves on the tapes, most of their chatter being of the "Oh man, why'd I dress like that?", "Dude, look at your hair!", and the occasional, "I gave up that color for this one?". Everyone found amusement when Tommy commented on how much he disliked the color red, and longed for his familiar white, or hell, even green, which Adam held now. Tommy even jokingly tried to broker a deal with Adam to see if they could trade colors. Jason laughed hysterically, noting that only the "very best" were cut out to wear the color red, to which Tommy rolled his eyes and sarcastically began to comment on the almost comically large shield that adorned Jason's suit, saying it was nearly as big as his head. But out of everyone in the entire group, Kimberly herself was the only one to remain consistent with her color; pink had never left her. Jason had gone from red to gold, Rocky from red to blue, Adam from black to green, Tommy from green to white then to red, Billy had given up active duty, Tanya was new to yellow and Katherine had never joined the team. Yep, pink had remained Kim's, and she liked it just like that.

As she rose from her bed, she padded over to her window to pull the blinds apart and get a better view of the outside world from her room. It was incredibly bright out, brighter than most days. The fact that it was Saturday and she had no homework made it all the sweeter. She and Tommy had the entire day planned out for themselves; lunch at the Youth Center before heading out and beaching it all day. Tommy had promised to teach her how to surf, and while the thought of it sounded exciting, accidental death via surfboard wasn't on her list of things to do. After surfing and spending quality time on the beach together, the two of them would go home and clean themselves up to meet up with the rest of the gang, as they were all going to spend the evening on the boardwalk, enjoying their youth. Though they all insisted on wearing their communicators should Zordon need to contact them, the sage told them that while he admired their noblity and their heightened sense of awareness, he reminded them that they were still teenagers that needed to enjoy the finer points in their young lives, such as tonight, when they should be having fun, riding the roller coasters and walking along the sand, not dodging and ducking out of the way from one of Mondo's explosive devices.

As she watched a few birds fly by her window, Kimberly could smell the pancakes that her mother was making in the kitchen, and her stomach growled loudly, having not eaten anything last night. After washing her face and putting her morning robe on, she made her way into the kitchen, where, as she had supposed, her mother Julie was making pancakes for the two of them. She looked up to see her daughter walk into the kitchen, and her smile grew as she finished up.

"Hey mom, good morning", Kim yawned out as she stretched her arms over her head and began to rummage through the refridgerator for some orange juice. "Where's Pierre?"

"Oh, Pierre's out getting a few groceries for tonight. Since you're gonna be out with Tommy and the gang, me and him are gonna have a nice little dinner and watch a movie", Julie stated as she put breakfast on the table while Kim sat down and began to devour it. "Jeez Kimberly, why don't ya slow down a little, huh?", her mother joked as she sat down across from her daughter and put her glasses on to read the paper.

"Oh, sorry Mom. I didn't eat anything last night and I'm just starved, we were out late as you probably already noticed", she said as she took a sip from her glass and dug back into her food.

"So, how's the gang doing? I haven't seen any of them in a while. They doing alright?", Julie asked as she turned the page and began to read an article on, you guessed it, the Zeo Rangers and their battle last night. Kimberly saw this and a small, subtle smile crept across her face as her mother read on. "_If only I could tell her...",_ Kim thought to herself. "Uh, yeah, the gang is doing great Mom, they all say hi and they all promise to be over for movie night next Friday."

"That's good, that's good. How's Tommy? Did you remind him about today so that he wouldn't forget?"

"Oh no Mom, he knows. I beat it into his brain enough over the past two days, so he better not forget. I really wanna learn how to surf!", Kim exclaimed as she finished her pancakes and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear, the smile she had on her face not going away anytime soon.

"Just be careful out there, Kimberly. I know that Tommy knows what he's doing when it comes to the ocean, and I know you trust him with everything, but still, the waters are unpredictable. Be safe", her mother cautioned as she finished reading the article on the Zeo Rangers. "Man, those Power Rangers...they're really great, aren't they?", she beamed, changing the subject.

Kim blushed and looked down at her empty plate, thinking about how glad she was to hear her mother think highly of the Rangers. There was a time when her mother and father could agree on one thing despite being divorced; they didn't think all too highly of the Power Rangers. Sure, if they had known that their daughter was the Pink Ranger, they'd of changed their minds in a heartbeat, but the fact that they didn't like the Rangers at first hurt Kim inside, made her wonder if it was all worth it. She didn't want them to like the Rangers because she was one herself. She wanted them to like the Rangers for what they were; protectors of Angel Grove and Earth, stopping the forces of Rita, Zedd, Mondo...doing a whole lot of good and making sure everyone was safe. But her parents didn't see that. They thought they were menaces, kinda like that guy in New York who was always zipping and flying around like he was a spider. They looked at him as a menace too, much like Kimberly's parents did with the Rangers.

Their opinions of the Power Rangers stayed the same for quite some time, until it was Parents Day at the Youth Center midway through their freshman year. It started out simple enough for everyone else but Kim. She remembered how shitty she felt that day, blaming herself for her parents divorce, thinking that her father wouldn't even show up. She was relieved to know that he had shown up, but her and Trini were ambushed by Putties as they tried to re-enter. Before they knew it, Rita used the Dramole monster to brainwash Billy into stealing the Dragon Dagger and teleport their parents to her Dark Dimension. The thought of being alone with no parent figure in her life was enough to scare Kimberly to the very core of her soul, much like it did the other Rangers. But what they thought was the right thing to do in giving up their Power Coins to Goldar in exchange for their parents turned out to be horrific, as Goldar tricked them and fled with the coins, the Dragon Dagger and their loved ones. So there they were. Powerless. Hopeless. Helpless. Scared. And alone. There were very few times that Kimberly thought about ending it all, and that was one of them. But as soon as the gang found out that Jason still had possesion of the Dragon Coin, their hopes and spirits were lifted.

And in he came, their green savior and Kim's own reason for deciding to keep fighting, Tommy. He knew the risk involved and didn't think twice about it; he'd give his life for his friends if it ever came down to it. And it nearly did. After almost having Zordon's own energy and the energy field from the Dragon Dagger and Power Coins come close to killing him, he managed to bring them back, and through a miracle, he survived and rejoined the team as their Green Ranger that day. After getting her parents back upon defeating the Dramole monster and introducing Tommy to them, she remembered the joy she felt running through her veins as she and Tommy retreated to the back of the Youth Center. They hadn't seen each other in what felt like ages and they knew that they needed to clear the air...right after they were done sucking on each other's lips.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

"So...you don't know how glad I am to be back with the gang."

"You don't know how glad I am to have you back, buster."

She remembered the look in his eyes. He looked happy to be in her presence, but he didn't expect her to say something like that. She thought that they were together, an item. He didn't know what to think. He was the loner, the outcast of the group that would always come in when they needed him most. She was the pretty, bubbly valley girl that the loner was just lucky to be around. He wasn't sure by what she meant when she spoke those words.

"You're glad to have me back? Oh come on Kimberly, you just got your parents back. You shouldn't be so excited to see me. I'm lucky to even be alive, let alone back on the team with my powers intact."

"I know Tommy, but I'm like, totally excited to see you again. I thought...well, I thought that after the whole thing with the candle and all...that I'd never see you again. Just having you back on the team is one of the happiest things I've ever felt. I missed you so much Tommy, you don't even know. When I said that I was glad to have you back, I meant it."

"I'm glad to have you back too, Kim. I missed you. I mean, don't get me wrong, I missed everyone...but I missed you the most. It sucked being away for so long. I'm just grateful that I was given another chance."

That was all the reassurance she needed to hear. She now knew that it was time to tell him the one thing she was preparing to tell him the moment he teleported back into the Command Center earlier that day.

"Tommy...can you promise me one thing?"

"What's that, Kim?"

"You can never break this promise. I'm deadly serious."

"Haha, well I can't break the promise if I don't know what it is, now can I?"

"Don't leave me again."

Her words pierced his skin like bullets piercing kevlar. The weight they carried came crashing down on him like a wave, and suddenly he realized what he had done when he first lost his powers; he had taken Kim to the dance as promised, and then after that magical night he...he faded away. Like an old, fabled memory, he went somewhere (his Uncle Mark's cabin on the other side of town) and cut himself off from the rest of the world. Sure, he would write here and there, and occasionally return one of Kim or Jason's phone calls, and he showed up for Power Rangers Day, but he largely kept to himself during his time of seclusion. At the time he felt that he was doing what he thought was right, but at that very moment, staring down into her brown orbs, he now felt like a jerk for ever acting like that. He was wrong, and she had every right to be angry at him, but she wasn't. He deserved her scorn, but instead he got her love and affection. To her, the fact that he had risked his own life for their coins was enough as far as forgiveness went. So right there, he made a choice. A choice that was as iron clad as it could possibly get.

"Well Tommy? What do you have to say?"

"I won't."

"You promise!?"

"I promise, Kimberly. I promise to never leave you again. The time I spent apart from you was too hard on me, but me being my stubborn self, I thought I was doing the right thing. I now realize that I was stupid for thinking that. I need the gang, I need Zordon, I need Alpha...but most importantly, I need you. I need you now more than ever, Kimberly. I know what I have, and I know that I'm welcome with you guys. I couldn't ask for more from my friends."

His words lifted her spirits higher than anything else ever had. Tears were beginning to form in Kim's eyes as she put her head on his chest and felt Tommy's arms wrap around her tiny waist, pulling her into a tight embrace as she closed her eyes and felt the tears of joy roll down her cheek. What started out as one of the worst days of Kimberly's life turned out to be one of the best.

"Aww Tommy...you pinky swear?"

"I pinky swear...Pinky."

The two lovebirds laughed as they twisted their pinky fingers together and then kissed each other, stars in Kim's eyes and fireworks going off in Tommy's, figuratively speaking. They broke off and stared longingly into each other's eyes. Tommy rubbed the back of his head while Kim looked down at her feet, nervously kicking rocks, neither of them knowing what to do next.

"Does this mean that we're together?", Tommy suddenly blurted out, causing Kim to jerk her head upwards and look at him funny. She bit her lip and ran her finger across his chest, knowing that this would surely lead him along and want him to want more.

"If that's what you want us to be...", Kimberly said quietly as she fluttered her eyes and grinned, purposely finishing the sentence like that to make sure he finished it for her.

"Well, I have a promise to keep, don't I?", he said modestly as he took his hand in hers and began to walk back towards the front of the Youth Center, where surely their friends would be looking for them. "Don't worry, Kim. If that's what you want, then that's what I want. I'm happy with you. And I won't leave you again. Ever."

Sure enough, a few months later, at the beginning of their sophmore year, Tommy lost the Green Ranger powers again thanks to Zedd, but this time they were for good. And what happened? He broke his promise to Kimberly and faded away again. But this time it wasn't for months on end. No. After one month of hating herself for letting him get away once more, he returned...as her white knight. And the rest is history.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Kim found herself still in her kitchen, looking down at her empty plate, her mother looking a bit worried that her daughter wasn't answering her question. "Kimberly, are you there? Hello? Kimberly, answer me!"

"Huh, wha? Oh, sorry Mom. I just kinda started thinking about the Power Rangers and how much good they do for Angel Grove. Sorry, what did you ask me again?", she said, the little white lie going unnoticed by her usually alert mother. She was doing a lot more than thinking about the Rangers, that was for sure...

"I asked you about the bruise on your arm there. It's rather large. How did you manage that?", she asked as Kim hurridly covered it up with the sleeve of her robe. _"Fuck",_ Kim thought to herself. _"I did NOT want her to see that..."_

"Oh, that? Um, the gang and I were playing frisbee in the park yesterday, and Jason went to throw it to me, so while I chased after it, Tommy playfully tackled me to the ground, but my arm hit a branch or a root to a tree or something, and um, that's how I got the bruise. Really though, I'm fine, Mom. It's nothing", Kimberly said nervously, hoping her mother wouldn't further question the origins of the bruise.

"Are you sure about that? You look like you got into a fight", her mother said as she began to wash some dishes, while Kim cringed. _"No Mom, me and the gang are secretly the Zeo Rangers and last night we fought the Midas Monster, and during the fracas I got nailed on the arm by a Cog that was trying to take my head off",_ she thought to herself as she flipped through the paper, hoping that this sudden conversation about her bruise wouldn't last long. "Do I look like the kind of gal that would get into a fight over anything, Mom?", Kimberly wryly said as a small smirk crept across her lips.

"No, I suppose not. I guess it's just a mother's intuition to ask about something like that. But, little missy, I do know what kind of gal you're becoming by sitting here", Julie responded as she finished up the last of the dishes and put her rubber gloves down.

"Oh yeah, what's that Mom?"

"Forgetful. Look at the time, sweetie."

Kim looked to her left and glanced at the clock. It read 10:58, and Tommy would hopefully be arriving at 11:30. Kim's eyes grew wide as she hastily sat up from her chair and washed her plate off, putting it in the dishwasher before giving Julie a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks Mom, breakfast was delicious", Kimberly said fastly as she helped put a few dishes away before making a break for the bathroom to take a shower.

"Think nothing of it, sweetheart! You better get ready fast though, today might be the day that Tommy actually shows up on time!", Julie joked, making light of her daughter's boyfriend's forgetfulness and less than stellar punctuality.

As Kimberly ran up the steps to her room to get undressed, one thought was racing through her thoughts as she ran into the bathroom and jumped into the shower, the water hitting her skin like soothing bullets of warmth.

"Today's gonna be a great day."

If she only knew.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_July 21st, 1997._

_The Moon._

"I can't believe we're actually going through with this."

It had been an uneasy ride for Lord Zedd and company as they drove along the moon's rocky surface, their destination being the headquarters for their enemies, the Machine Empire. After watching those damn Power Rangers celebrate yet another victory and listening to his wife's utterly rediculous idea of forming a pact with the Machine Empire, it would be a gross understatement if someone were to say that Lord Zedd was in a bad mood.

"Hey Ed! Why so glum? This idea my sis has might actually work if we play our cards right!", exclaimed Rito Revolto, Rita's dimwitted brother. Zedd slammed the breaks and slowly turned his head to face Rito, who looked like he was ready to get slaughtered.

**"TRUST THE MACHINE EMPIRE?! PLAYING OUR CARDS RIGHT?! YOU INSUFFERABLE COCKROACH, THIS PLAN IS GOING TO RUIN US ONCE AND FOR ALL! AND IT'S ZEDD, YOU DAMN IDIOT, ZEDD! Z-E-D-D, ZEDD!",** he bellowed deeply and loudly enough to even make Goldar shudder, who had become accustomed to said outbursts over the past couple of years. But even this one shook him to the very core. Rito bowed his head in shame while Rita looked the other way, out the window, not wanting to deal with her husband as he continued the drive to enemy territory.

"Sheesh Zedd...ya know...ya don't gonna be so uptight all the time...", Rito muttered to himself as Goldar shot him a questionable look, ignoring the annoying snoring coming from Squatt and Baboo as the motorhome rumbled onward.

"Maybe he wouldn't be like that if you remembered his name or didn't act like a dumbass in general...", scoffed Goldar as he shook his head and focused his gaze towards the front of the vehicle, where Rita and Zedd were having a strenuous conversation, given Zedd's mood.

"Zeddykins, do you really feel that way about my plan?", Rita asked nervously as she tried her best not to directly look him in the face, which only gave into her fear of him when he got like this.

"Do you want the honest fucking truth or do you want me to lie and act jovial?", he coldy replied as his grip on the steering wheel tightened with each word spoken between the two of them.

"Why do you think so negatively of it!? They're on the ropes and still learning the tricks of the trade as far as those Power Pukes go, where as you and I have dealt with them for so long! Hell, we nearly _killed them_ all a few times as well! If anything, Mondo and Machina need **US**!", she exclaimed as she sat upright in her seat and made scant eye contact with her enraged husband.

"I think those snakes are going to double cross us the first chance they get, and when they do, they're gonna take everything from us and then we'll really be screwed", Zedd responded.

"Why are you so convinced of that? You saw how those punks came back with their Super Zeo Zords and wrecked their pathetic Midas Monster! You saw how the Gold Ranger went from gold statue to live action at the snap of a finger! Mondo and Machina, they're in over their heads, dear! We hold the trump card here, because we know the Rangers better than they know themselves!", Rita said as calmly as she could without trying to sound a little excited, but quickly turned away when Zedd looked at her, his heavy breathing sending chills up her spine.

"Because they have everything to gain from this, and little to lose, where as we have everything to lose and little to gain. Partnering up with them brings us no closer to reclaiming our throne. Partnering up with them brings us no closer to having Serpentera back in our possesion! Partnering up with them brings us nothing but a colossal headache and the possibility of a god damn war on our hands! A war we can't afford to engage in at the moment!", Zedd yelled as he made a sharp turn into a crater field and began to roar through it without a care in the world as to what was on the surface ahead of him.

"All I'm saying is, Zeddykins, is that if we can gain their trust for a little bit, we can gain access to everything they have and then turn it against them, and then we could take our rightful places back! Then they'd be the ones in the motorhome!"

"You better be right about this, Rita. For your sake, you better."

"Trust me, darling. We'll have them eating out of our palms before you know it."

"Did you ever get a hold of that Leonard fellow you were babbling on about?"

"Leonard? Oh, Leonard! I tried contacting him but you know Deepcore, it's a very hard dimension to reach, even for a skilled witch like myself. Hopefully he sensed me trying to get a hold of him and is on his way to help us. We need him if we are to usurp the Machine Empire."

"Are you sure he's qualified?"

"He's more than qualified. He's the best there is, darling."

Zedd's demeanor went from cold, distant and gruff to somewhat...glad. He chuckled lightly as he made a sharp right turn and then found himself staring at the Machine Empire's base in the distance. It was kill or be killed for all of them. And they weren't planning on the ones being killed.

**AN: And thus ends chapter two! I'm so sorry for the long delay inbetween chapters, I just had to deal with some stuff in my life, it was very hectic but I promise that I'll be getting chapters up as soon as possible from now on! Hope you all enjoy! Thank you!**


	4. Meeting Of The Minds

**AN: Here's the third chapter! Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long. Here's where things begin to pick up a little, so I hope you all enjoy! Once more, I don't own the Power Rangers. If I did, well, I'd..I don't know what I'd do. Anyways, on with the story!**

_July 21st, 1997.  
Machine Empire Headquarters.  
The Moon._

"When is our ungrateful son going to be showing up, dear?", King Mondo asked gruffly as he shuffled from one side of the work room to the other to overlook his countless fields of Cogs and Quadra Fighters from his view on the balcony. King Mondo had been in a sour mood all day, as today was when his irresponsible son, Prince Gasket, would be returning to the headquarters with his wife, Princess Archerina, the daughter of his archnemesis, King Aradon. While his wife, Queen Machina, had tried her best to cheer him up, nothing seemed to work; he simply did not want to be in the same room as his son.

"He should be arriving here any moment, love", Queen Machina said as she took out her metal fan and fanned herself, the anticipation of her son and his wife growing with each and every second passing. As she fanned herself, Klank strutted into the room, looking for something that was needed to help create one of his new monsters to destroy the Zeo Rangers (he hoped).

"Klank! What are you doing here?! Didn't I tell you not to disturb me at all, considering my unappreciative son and his wretched wife are coming!? Or did you miss the memo again!?" Mondo shouted as he turned around to face his servant, who instantly cowered in fear at the mere tone of his King's voice.

"Yes sire, I completely understand! I was only here to pick up a few spare parts for my newest creation, the Cruel Chrome!", Klank said in his thick Scottish brogue. "I promise you that I will not disturb you for the rest of the day!"

"You best not, because if this meeting goes down how I expect it to, I'm going to be very pissed off for quite some time! So do not aggrevate me with your insignificant questions and requests unless it is absolutely, and I mean absolutely necessary! Do I make myself clear, Klank?!", Mondo bellowed as Klank picked up the spare parts and nervously nodded his head, inching his way out of the room, headed towards his private quarters to continue the creation of this new monster. Mondo turned around to face his wife, looking to say something to her before their youngest son, Sprocket, shuffled into the room almost absent mindedly. His mother had been doing his best to keep him as far away from his father as robotically possible, but that didn't seem to be working out at the moment.

"Mommy, why can't I speak to Daddy?", Sprocket whined as his mother looked mortified at the sight of her baby, quickly trying to push him out of the room before her angst-ridden husband found out he had left his room. "Is it because big brother is coming to speak to him?", he said as his father turned around once more, this time to see his wife ushering their son out. He held his hand up to stop his wife, kneeling down to look his youngest son in the eye before speaking.

"What is it, son? What do you want?", Mondo asked rather calmly, which surprised Machina as she backed up a few steps to give the two of them some room to speak. Sprocket hesitated for a moment, looking up to his mother's face to see if he should really ask what's on his mind. His mother offered nothing in the form of an answer though, so he shrugged his metallic shoulders and just decided to ask anyways.

"Daddy, why're you so angry today? Are are Gasket and Archerina paying us a visit today?"

King Mondo took a step back and took a deep breath, letting out an equally deep sigh as he put his large mechanical hand on his son's left shoulder and chuckled, shaking his head, doing his damndest to surpress the anger that was boiling inside of him as he knelt back down and faced his son, who looked like he was either relieved or scared that his father wasn't yelling and screaming right now, it was hard to tell.

"Yes son, your big brother and his wife will be dropping by any minute now to talk to me and your mother about some very important issues regarding the Power Rangers and their ultimate destruction at the hands of the Machine Empire. I'm angry because I was given very short notice and did not have the proper amount of time to make our palace look decent enough for our guests, nothing more, nothing less. Is there anything else you would like to know, Sprocket?", Mondo said as lackadaisical as possible, which only further rose Machina's fear of his eventual angry outburst, how bad it would be. All she could do at the moment, though, was stand to the side and wave her fan in front of her to calm herself down.

"No...I guess that's all I wanted to know, Daddy. Are we really gonna get the Power Rangers this time, though?"

"Yes son...we're really going to destroy them all and take over Earth."

"Okay Daddy."

With that, Sprocket nodded his head and turned to make the walk back to his room without putting up much of a fight. Before, he would usually whine about wanting to take the Power Rangers down by himself, begging and pleading with his parents to let him create a monster that would destroy them for good, only to be politely turned down by his parents, giving him the usual, "Wait until you're older" excuse while they went about business their own way. But Sprocket knew that something was up with his father, so he decided to bite the bullet and go to his room to play with his toys. By the time that Sprocket was out of earshot, Mondo let out another deep sigh while Machina slowly moved forward, hoping to avoid the outburst completely, before her husband softly laughed and shook his head.

"Sprocket sure has a lot of nerve, coming out here and asking something like that", he said as he made his way back over to the balcony to overlook everything, while Machina looked confused, albeit glad that there was no screaming or cursing...yet.

"You're not angered at all, my dear?", she asked nervously as she waved her metal fan in front of her once more, this time faster than before.

"No, love. Not at all. I was like that when I was in Sprocket's shoes. He's learning. He'll be just fine when he grows up."

Just then though, the smile on Mondo's face disappeared as he heard a loud poof noise directly behind him, to the right, with two sets of feet landing on the ground. His face contorted in angst as he knew that this meant only one thing.

Prince Gasket and Princess Archerina had finally arrived.

"Would it _kill you_ to let us know of your arrival or knock?", Mondo said coldly as he turned to face his son and his wife. What he wouldn't do to obliterate either of them. He would never forgive his oldest son for eloping with his archnemesis's daughter.

"Hello _father_", Gasket sneered as Archerina held onto his arm tightly, not wanting him to leave her side while they were here. She had made Gasket promise to her that she wouldn't be in any danger by coming here while his father was around, and he swore that she would be safe. "Hello mother", he said rather cheerily though, while Machina walked over to hug her son, but in turn, gave his wife the cold shoulder before padding over to her husband.

"Hello son. How are you doing?", Machina asked as nicely as possible, ignoring Archerina, focussing directly on her oldest son. No matter what he did, and no matter who he had gotten married to, she always had a soft spot for her oldest son, regardless of his decisions.

"I've been doing better, mother. I would still like to know what the reason for me and Archerina being here is, but the letter I recieved from Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa was...well, rather cryptic, to say the least. But we are here, and we are ready to discuss whatever it is those two bumbling morons have up their sleeves", Gasket said while trying to not look at his father, who was glaring holes through him with every spoken word.

"Yes, their letter to us was quite vague as well", Machina began as she shot Archerina another cold glare. "But they are the ones with this supposed idea, and it would be in all of our best interests if we were to at least entertain them and whatever it is that they've thought of."

"Well, whatever their plan may be, I'm pretty sure it can't be half as bad as something your husband over there has thought of recently. Midas Monster, huh father? That was a real winner, now wasn't it?", Gasket said with a sarcastic smile on his face as his words were drenched in venom, his father stepping forward to face his son, the fear written on Machina's face as she knew exactly what was coming next.

**"WHO ARE YOU TO SAY ANYTHING!?",** Mondo bellowed loudly as his son gave no sign of backing down from his much larger father, while his wife cowered behind him in fear. Gasket stared at his father's angered demeanor and took one step back to create some much needed distance between themselves. He had his father right where he wanted him.

When he first saw Archerina, he knew that it was, as absurd as it was for someone who was nothing but pure evil, love at first sight. He had courted her, he had fallen head over heels for her, and he would do whatever it took to make sure that she ended up with him for the rest of their lives. But when he found out that Archerina was the daughter of his father's archnemesis, he knew that he could never bring her back to his parents and introduce her, fearing that his father would have had her terminated on sight. He hated King Aradon that much, so much so that even though his son was madly in love (though he did not know of it at the time), King Mondo would have had her executed right in front of his son's very eyes. And right there, Gasket decided, it was time to leave his parents behind and start a serious relationship with Archerina.

Pleading with her to find the necessary time to follow through with their plans, Prince Gasket and Princess Archerina snuck out one night while their respective familes had fallen asleep. For Archerina, it was no problem getting out of her palace, but for Gasket, it was much harder. Never mind that he had nearly woken Klank and Orbus on the way out, he had to contend with trying not to wake the pain in the ass he had for a brother, Sprocket. The fact that he heard his little brother's footsteps down the hall as he tried to make his exit nearly caused him to faint, he silently thanked the evil Gods when his brother turned right back around, muttering something about hearing voices as he went back to sleep. From there on out, it was smooth sailing for Gasket as he exited the premises and met up with his one true love. He knew that it was now or never for the two of them as a couple when he asked her to hastily marry him and run away together, knowing that neither of their parents would approve of them ever being together. Without hesitation, Archerina agreed, and the next night, they eloped and fled from their respective homes, leaving everything they had grown to know behind them, a letter their only way of letting their parents know what had happened.

The memories that had pushed themselves to the forefront of Gasket's head were now quickly being pushed back as he saw his pissed off father glaring holes through him, a nonchalont, almost cocky smile on his face as he twirled his trusty sword around in his metallic hand. He then looked his father straight in the eyes and began to speak in such a cool manner that even had his mother and wife shocked.

"Who am I to say anything,_ father_?", Gasket said, putting as much sarcastic emphasis on the last word as possible. "Who am I? I'll tell you who I am. I am Prince Gasket, and one day, I am going to take over the entire Machine Empire and push you to the side where you belong, you feeble old man. And when I do take over, I am going to kill off every single one of those pathetic Zeo Rangers, one by one, from gold all the way down to pink. Especially that irritating Red Ranger. He deserves the most painful death of them all. And while I'm at it, I'm not going to fuck up every single time I send a monster down there to combat them. How about that?"

"As much as I want to tear you apart right now, you and I do agree on one thing", Mondo said coldly as he briskly turned around to walk back over to where his wife was positioned. Turning around to face his son once more, he rolled his eyes and grunted.

"Oh, really now? And what would that be?"

"We both want that pestilent Red Ranger the most out of them all."

Silence overtook the room as Mondo and Gasket scowled at each other. A word wasn't said between the four of them for quite some time as they all studied each other's brief movements and robotic features to see if any one of them was going to give in. But right as Machina was about to open her mouth, a crackling noise was heard as stray red and black lights began to appear in the middle of the room. Before long, the lights had produced the two people who had sent the letters in the first place, both of them looking like they'd rather be getting their asses handed to them by the Zeo Rangers than be where they currently found themselves at.

"Ahhh, Rita, Zedd. How nice of you both to just...drop in like this", said Machina as she waved her metal fan in front of her face, while Rita glowered at her. Zedd grasped his staff tightly, almost as if he was going to break it, as his visor wandered back and forth between Mondo and Gasket, the two beings besides Master Vile that he absolutly hated with every evil fiber in his dark and twisted soul.

"Yes, it is _so good_ to see you two once more", Mondo added bitterly before shifting his gaze back to his son and his wife. The hatred he had for Zedd would always be there, but the downright abhorrance he had for his son would never overtake that of his problems with Zedd. "Now, if you two don't mind, what is this plan of yours that you mentioned in those letters you sent to us?"

"Oh, _so now_ he wants to know..", Zedd muttered under his breath before Rita slapped him on the arm. She gave him a stern look that basically told him to be as polite and cordial (the two words he loathed) as possible towards the people who were currently housing him. He scoffed at her before he continued onward. "Right. So you want to know about the plan that me and my wife here have concocted, do you? Well, before you can be privy to such thoughts, we...I need to know one thing from all four of you before I go any further."

"What's that, Zedd?"

He turned to look at the sniveling excuse of a robot named Gasket and growled, clearly not appreciating the the tone of Gasket's voice with the words spoken. Pushing the thoughts to drive his staff through his enemy's head away, he shook his own head and grumbled.

"I need to know if I can trust you."

**"ZEDDY!"**

Her shrill scream did not come as a surprise to him; in fact, he had been anticipating it the moment he began to speak.

"Don't even try it, Rita. I know damn well that you can't trust them just as much as I can't."

"Regardless of how I may feel, we need to be somewhat respectful of the fact that they've allowed us into their fortress to explain our plan that will finally eliminate the Zeo Rangers! Damn it, Zeddy, I'm the one that originally thought of the idea to let them in on it, at least give them the decency to actually hear it! I know it pains you to act...nice...but for the sake of the plan, the sake of all evil, and the sake of those Power Pukes being annihilated, they need to know without you blowing up on them!"

Zedd shook his head, and when he finally gave in after moments of arguing with Rita, the two of them finally revealed the plan at great length to the four machines that they shared the room with. They started out simple enough, but when the machines banded together and said that if that was the plan, they could get the hell out of here and epically fail on their own, Rita's lips curled into a sickening smile before she took her wand and ran it in the air across a table, visual images appearing to help further drive home the point that their plan was not to be considered weak in any way, shape or form. While switching between images of Angel Grove's downtown district, the Zeo Zords, the actual Zeo Sub-Crystals and the Zeo Rangers themselves, not to mention the Power Chamber, the machines would occasionally ask questions to see what one thing meant, if they could pull off this thing, stuff like that.

Near the end of their speech, they decided to drop the bomb on the machines; they felt it would be necessary to let them know about their ace in the hole, Leonard. Right away, the machines weren't receptive to the idea of him being used at all. After hearing the plan over and over, right and left, up and down, backwards and forward, the sudden inclusion of this sorcerer Leonard didn't sit well with them. His powers were questioned. His inactivity was brought to light. The fact that he held an ability, a power that no other sorcerer or demon had ever held at his fingertips was enough to, quite frankly, scare the crap out of the four of them, while Zedd and Rita gleefully went on and assured them that Leonard would be vital to the plan and it's final stages, the final stages in which his usage would be deemed necessary. Finally, after warily shaking hands and calling a truce to their on-going wars against each other, the faction was born.

As Rita swept her wand once more to show an image of the six Zeo Rangers, in order of gold, red, green, blue, yellow and pink, Mondo grew a little uncertain at the main focal point of the plan.

"It's rather simple, Mondo", Zedd sneered as Rita touched the holographic images of the Gold, Blue, Green and Yellow Zeo Rangers, causing them to fade away, leaving only the Pink and Red Zeo Rangers left, standing side by side. "We take out the other four...attack those two at their hearts..."

"And they will surely crumble before our very eyes...and that's where we leave Leonard to do his work."

Sick, disturbing laughter filled the room as the holographic images of Tommy and Kimberly stood together, fully morphed, before Rita swept her wand and the images disappeared.

Play time was certaintly over.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_July 21st, 1997.  
1:35 PM.  
Power Chamber.  
Angel Grove, California._

A laugh was heard. A screech soon followed. There was crashing and pounding, smacking and splashing. A few obscenities were hurled, while sarcasm dripped on the words that were shot back in response. But one thing remained in the waters, under the perfect blue sky.

True love.

Watching his friends and the two leaders of the team, Billy couldn't help but chuckle softly to himself at the images shown on the viewing globe. After Rocky, Katherine, Tanya, Adam and Jason had pleaded, almost begged Billy to bring up said images and he denied them, he was shocked when Alpha and Zordon themselves relented and figured that it would be nice to see how the original Power Couple was doing during their much needed (and deserved) time together out in the ocean. So after punching in the coordinates by getting a reading on their power levels, Billy was glad he decided to watch Tommy teach Kimberly how to surf. He got a very good kick out of Kimberly trying to grasp it all while Tommy had a ball seeing his girlfriend adapt to using the board.

It certaintly took his mind, albeit momentarily, off the work that was being done within the Power Chamber, that's for sure.

Using a cloth to wipe his hands clean, he turned around to see Jason and Rocky hovering over their respective weapons, the Golden Power Staff and Zeo Axes. The two of them were nearly finished with repairing and updating them to their full power for the next time they would be needed in battle. Jason himself went a little further out of the way than usual when it came to his Golden Power Staff. Though he had been assured by Trey Of Triforia, the original Gold Ranger, that the Gold Ranger powers were one hundred percent safe for human physiology when Trey handed them off, he always wanted to make sure that it didn't fail him and that he wouldn't be suffering from power withdrawls any time soon.

He then saw Katherine and Tanya looking over the Zeo Cannon nearby, making necessary modifications on their Zeo Power Charges that were used as the primary source of power to make sure the beastly cannon was at full capacity when ever being used. Running a few tests on the Zeo Power Charges, they were deemed upgraded and good to go the next time the Rangers deemed the usage of the Zeo Cannon would be absolutly necessary. He smiled proudly as he watched the two girls work flawlessly on the weapon, knowing that Katherine had learned well under his tutelage.

That finally brought Billy's attention to the furthest end of the Power Chamber, near the door that led to the Medical Bay, where he saw Adam slumped over in a chair, two of the Zeo Jet Cycles nearby. He and Adam had been breaking their backs over working out the kinks on them, to see if they could be fully functional again after they were nearly destroyed in an ambush that was caused by the Cog Changer. It was tough and it was certaintly tedious, but the two of them were making slow progress towards getting the cycles back to normal. As Billy began his walk back over to where Adam was sitting, Alpha could be heard shuffling into the room as Zordon appeared in his energy tube, a smile on his face at the images on the viewing globe. Jason's loud laugh could be heard as Kimberly went to go stand on her surf board and slipped, mimicking Tommy as he laughed too.

"Oh man, I don't care how many times she falls, it's still funny to me", Jason said between breaths as he picked his staff up in his hand and waved it around a few times, accidentally hitting the new auto-morph mechanism that Billy installed on it. Looking at the world around him through his black and gold tinted visor, he sheepishly smiled as everyone around him chuckled before he muttered "Power down", going back to his street clothes as he put the staff back on the table. "What? So I'm still getting used to just pushing a button and morphing now, it beats doing the hand movements and waiting for the staff to open up and envalope me with the power."

"This may be true, but that doesn't mean it still isn't funny to watch", Rocky said, earning him a shove from Jason while everyone took the time to roll their eyes and shake their heads before going back to work. But any work they were to continue doing was interrupted by their mentor's booming voice echoing throughout the insides of the Power Chamber.

"Rangers", Zordon began, looking down at the four Rangers and two advisors that made up the Power Team. "While I commend you on the progress you've all made on your respective weapons and upgrades, I come to you with a very important message that must not wait any longer."

"What's up, Zordon?"

"During my most recent meditative sleep period, I began to sense, subconsciously, some strong readings coming from the moon base in which the Machine Empire operates. I was able to detect four life forms entering the base and staying there, going through what I can only assume was a meeting of the minds, before the four life forms that entered left, leaving behind only two energy signals. I fear that what happened up there is something that I have been anticipating for quite some time."

"Four life forms...", muttered Katherine to nobody in particular, doing the mental math and realizing that it couldn't be good. But before she could say anything, Adam spoke her thoughts out for her, as if he already knew what she and everybody else was already thinking.

"Gasket, Archerina, Rita and Zedd", he said sternly as Zordon nodded his head. "What do you think those four would want with Mondo and Machina?"

"It is not yet known, Rangers", Alpha piped in as he tried his best to get a reading on the four of them, to no avail. "For all we know, those six could have declared war on each other."

"I fear it is not that, Alpha. It is something far worse than those six beginning a galactic war amongst themselves. I believe that the prophecy has been fulfilled, and that King Mondo & Queen Machina have agreed to put all quandries aside with their son, Prince Gasket and his wife, Princess Archerina, as well as Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, to form the ultimate alliance with the purpose to wipe you all out and rule the universe."

Zordon's words set in on the six of them as well as a punch to the face would have; it left them stunned and at a loss for words, struggling to grasp the situation that was just presented to them. Surely that wasn't true; there was no way that those six could possibly agree to work together long enough without any one of them going absolutly crazy and turning on the others. They all knew from personal experience that Zedd, by far, was not the kind to make a truce with anyone, especially someone as reviled as Mondo and his son Gasket. Something had to be up. But they knew that Zordon was never wrong when it came to things like this. Why would be be wrong now? Still, something just didn't feel right...

"How can you be so sure, Zordon? I mean, you and us...well, mostly Billy, Jason, Adam and Rocky, know that Zedd would rather throw himself off a cliff onto jagged rocks than team up with Mondo and them. I don't want to sound like a jerk, but could you possibly be wrong?", Tanya questioned while Jason and Billy, the two oldest Rangers on the squad, gave her disapproving looks. Very rarely was Zordon questioned by any of them, and now seemed like a bad time to be doing so. But to their surprise, Zordon smiled as he looked down at Tanya. They hadn't been expecting that.

"I am glad that you have decided to speak your mind, Tanya. I appreciate your concern, but sadly, I am almost one hundred percent positive that I am not wrong. Prophecy has stated that something as big as this was bound to happen at any time. I'm just a little amazed that it took the six of them this long to do so. I feared that it would happen the moment you all bonded with your respective Zeo Crystals. I want you all to know that with the alliance between the six of them, that they will surely be gearing up for an all out, relentless strike that will be designed to utterly wipe you all out. This will be your toughest challenge to date, Rangers. Dealing with them on their own may have proved tough, but it will be exemplified now that the six of them have come together. As protectors of Angel Grove, Earth and the entire universe, do you accept this challenge knowing that it will be their most relentless to date?"

Without hesitation, Jason nodded his head. "Yes Zordon, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we accept the challenge and will meet it head on like we always do. They think that working together can take us down? Well they're wrong. Dead wrong. They can throw whatever they have cooked up at us, it won't stop us from ridding the evil and restoring global peace. I'm in."

"I'm in too."

"As am I."

"You know I'll be there."

"I'll be watching and keeping tabs from here."

"What about Tommy and Kimberly?"

Katherine's question was a good one. Lost in the revelation of this, they had forgotten that their two leaders, the Red and Pink Zeo Rangers, were not amongst them, and would surely need to know what was going on.

"Do not worry about them, young Katherine. Notify them of this when you all meet up later in the evening. I do not want to disrupt their time together with this burden. They deserve their happiness together. Which leads me to my next point, Rangers. When you all set out to have your fun together, I do not want any of you wearing your communicators", Zordon said, anticipating the response he was about to get from all six of them.

**"WHAT?!"**

Six different voices mixed together so that it became hard to hear who was saying what, but the general tone was that of utter confusement and bewilderment. While Zordon observed their reactions, Alpha's head was beginning to spin out of control from so many emotions filling the room at once. All it took for them to quiet down was Zordon clearing his throat, returning the silence to the room before he continued on with his reasoning.

"I want you to all leave your communicators at home tonight because while the thought of the six of them gearing up for a potential strike right now isn't out of the question, I believe that they will take the next few days to fully formulate their plan to their respective likings before making a move. And by the time they do so, you will all be prepared to thwart it. You are all still so young, on the verge of nearing the vaunted age of twenty or twenty one in some of your cases, that you all need to be able to enjoy yourselves every so often without having to worry about what is going on with your enemies. It is why I have not summoned Tommy and Kimberly here, and it is why you will comply with my request while you all go out and have fun at the amusement park and the boardwalk, not have fun trying to dodge explosives and giant monsters with your Zords."

"But Zordon, you can't honestly expect us to do that when the possibility of an attack is very high!", Jason said, pushing past everyone to the front of the pile. Everyone had shocked looks on their faces, almost betrayed by the fact that their mentor was telling them to not worry about a potential attack when he always prepared them for one. "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's great that you all want us to loosen up a little bit and enjoy ourselves, but do you honestly believe that the six of them will wait to attack us? They'll see us out there and go after us like we're wounded ducks!"

"I am well aware of the probability of that happening, Jason. It is very high, but believe me, Gold Ranger, when I say that the six of them will wait until you all appear to be at your absolute weakest, and strike then. Tonight will not be that night."

"Zordon..."

"No if's, and's, or but's about it, Power Rangers. Your need to make sure that Angel Grove and the entire universe remains safe is admirable; it always has been, and it is one of the many reasons of which I have come to love you all as if you were sons and daughters to me. But now, I strongly implore you all to go out and live your lives and not worry about a threat."

Jason looked around and everyone had the same look on their face as he did. It was that of a mixed reaction. One one hand, they were strongly beginning to wonder what would cause Zordon to let his guard down like this, even if it wasn't all that much, with the news that the Machine Empire was joining forces with Zedd & Rita. But on the other hand, they were estatic, elated at being told by their mentor, the man they had all come to know as a father figure in their lives, that they could go one night without having to constantly worry about an attack, and enjoy their times as friends together.

As each of them weighed their options on what to do or say in regards to Zordon's urging, they all turned their attention to the viewing globe, intently watching the two rocks of the team, Tommy and Kimberly thoroughly enjoy themselves as they paddled along the ocean. Seconds later, they watched as the two of them hopped along their boards and rode the wave, big smiles on both their faces as they then slid back down into a sitting position on their boards, Tommy clapping for Kim as she finally rode her first wave, before giving each other a kiss on the cheek. To the six of them currently standing in the Power Chamber, they realized how selfish it would be of them to turn this opportunity down, not to mention a slap in the face to Zordon, Alpha, Tommy and Kimberly. It was those two that were the ones who put the whole "gang goes out and enjoys themselves" plan together for tonight, as recently, the only time they spent together was either at school or during battle. Outside of that and the night before when they watched the old videos, it was rare when all eight of them actually spent time together. Finally, Billy was the first to turn his attention back to Zordon, sighing as he faced his mentor.

"Are you positively sure about all of this, Zordon? I mean, you don't want any of us wearing our communicators?"

"Yes Billy. I am sure. You all deserve a night away from your responsibilities. Please understand that I am doing this because I feel that, as a father figure in your lives, you have to be able to differentiate your lives as Power Rangers from your lives as teenagers, young adults. Tonight is a perfect example of that. It would not be fair to deprive all of you the opportunity at a night of enjoyment. My decision is final. I hope you all understand."

The six of them looked to each other, then looked up at Zordon. He was right.

They **did** deserve this.

Nodding their heads in agreement, they all silently vowed to not bring their communicators with them as Zordon smiled, nodding his head appreciatively as the Rangers turned and went back to their work. But Billy had other things in mind. Walking towards the Zord carrying hangar, he contemplated getting a hold of Tommy and Kimberly, letting them know of Zordon's vision and subsequent plans. But it dawned on him that Tommy had told him the night before that neither of them were bringing their communicators with them, hoping they all understood their reasoning for not having them on them. He figured that letting them know would simply wait until later that evening. But Billy knew that he had to rebel slightly against Zordon's wishes. It was for their own good. His communicator stayed with him.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

As Zedd and Rita left the Machine Empire's headquarters, with Gasket and Archerina following suit, a red blast of energy could be seen hurtling towards the Moon's surface, like a meteor of sorts. Except this was no meteor. This was something far, far bigger than any rock.

Flying, soaring down towards the ground, the energy surrounding the object began to fade as it's descent slowed to that of a snail's pace, before comfortably landing feet first onto the rocky surface that the Moon had to offer as far as the ground went. Surveying the exiting motorhome and the two beams of silver energy that beamed out of the fortress, the creature smiled as he turned his attention to the motorhome in the far distance.

Leonard had arrived.

**AN: And that's it for chapter three! Sorry it took so long to update, life's just been hectic. Enjoy!**


	5. Don't You Get It?

_July 21st, 1997._

_6:32 PM._

_Angel Grove Pier & Boardwalk._

_Angel Grove, California_.

"You wanna run that by me again, Billy?"

Billy cringed upon hearing Tommy's words. He knew it'd come down to this.

Billy looked around, to Jason, Rocky, Katherine, Adam, Tanya, Kimberly and then Tommy once more. There they all were, the eight of them on the boardwalk in downtown Angel Grove, the waves of the ocean crashing and pounding against each other in the background as the orange, hazy sky provided the setting for this evening. Parents were walking their kids all around, elderly couples were sitting on benches and enjoying the scenery, teenagers like themselves were in the various food joints eating and discussing the latest Power Rangers victory (go figure), and the eight of them were huddled around by the entrance to the house of mirrors. Billy had decided that it would be in everyone's best interest to not beat around the bush, per se, and just come out and tell Kimberly and Tommy about Zordon's premonition.

Needless to say, just like he had thought, the two of them weren't happy with what Billy had to tell them.

"Zordon had a vision, a premonition...that the Prophecy would be fulfilled. And according to him, it has. Mondo, Machina, Gasket, Archerina, Rita and Zedd have all decided to join forces to form one big super group with the plan being that they'll destroy us and have Earth all to themselves. Did I make it any clearer to you guys this time around?"

Tommy's brow furrowed in pure confusement. He then ran a hand through his long hair and put the other on his hip. He then looked at his wrist and was reminded by it's emptiness that his communicator was at home, just like everyone else's (except Billy; he kept his hidden in his pack pocket). Glancing down at Kimberly, he was met with the side of her head, as she was staring at the former boy in blue, her arms crossed as she blew a stray strand of her chestnut colored hair out of her eyes. Of course, she wasn't happy with it.

"Could you be wrong, Billy? I mean, could Zordon be wrong? What if it was just a glitch in the morphing grid? I mean, there's no way Zedd would ever want to team up with--"

"Kim, trust me on this one. Me, Jason, Adam, Rocky, Tanya and Kat all heard it from Zordon and Alpha themselves. It's happened. Those six have put their differences aside. They're going to team up."

Billy took a deep breath and looked around at his teammates, but most importantly, he looked at his best friends. None of them liked what Zordon had to say, and their fears of an immidiate attack were only heightened when Zordon, perhaps feeling a little too comfortable with his chosen warriors victory over the Midas Monster the day before. But that wasn't like Zordon. Zordon feeling...over confident? No way. Maybe Alpha had gotten to him. Who knew. Most things, when it came to Zordon, were a total mystery, never meant to be solved.

"How can we be so sure they aren't just going to declare war on each other and proceed to rip each other to shreds and leave us out of it all?", Tommy asked, which earned him a few questionable glances from onlookers as they passed by. That earned him a slap on the arm from Kimberly as she shook her head disaprovingly.

"Thomas Oliver, you know better than that!", she hissed as her boyfriend tried his best to look apologetic, but ended up rolling his eyes; this was a serious matter and it needed to be treated as such.

"Come on, maybe hanging around here isn't such a good idea. We don't want seventy five percent of the people here thinking we're all loons who are caught in some crazy gang war", Jason murmured as the other seven nodded their heads in agreement and shuffled their ways towards the beach a few feet away. Once there, the conversation resumed, this time with Adam surprisingly taking the floor.

"Listen, I know this is odd coming from me, the little itty bitty Green Ranger....", he said as he stopped himself. He thought about the last two words spoken; Green and Ranger. He then shuddered. "Heh, who'd of thought we'd ever hear those words uttered in the same sentence again, eh?", he joked, though down in the pit of his stomach, he felt like he was being measured up to Tommy during his days as the original Green Power Ranger. At least Adam had one thing on his side; he had never, thankfully, been evil at any point during his tenure as a Power Ranger. At least not yet.

"Anyways, I digress. Tommy, I can understand that you think this might just be a big hoax, that those six are really going to be at war with each other, but the truth of the matter is that they aren't. Zordon's never been wrong in the past. Why would he be wrong about something as monumental as this?", Adam asked as he looked at Tommy, though he was really asking everyone that. Tommy glared at him for a moment before turning his head and looking down at the sand. Many thoughts raced through the leader's head, but he couldn't manage to put them to words. When he found them, he was cut off by Kimberly.

"Zordon's also incredibly secretive and sometimes just leaves us without so much as a notice", she muttered, remembering the time where him and Alpha disappeared to make Tommy the White Ranger. "What if he's known this would happen and just elected to not tell us?", she asked aloud to everyone.

"Zordon said it himself, Kim; the Prophecy stated that something like this would happen, he just didn't know when and where. I guess now was the time and place", said Katherine as she ran a hand through her long blonde hair, sighing inwardly to herself. Silence befell the gang for a few minutes before Jason, ever the leader, cleared his throat and gained everyone's attention.

"Listen guys, we can't stand here and dwell on what could happen and what will happen", he started before raising his hand to silence the rest of the gang, while Tommy had that far-away look in his eyes, staring at the rolling waves in the distance. "All we can do is prepare ourselves for the inevitable, and that's gonna be a fight with those six goons and whatever they throw at us. If they want a fight, they've got a fight. We're the Power Rangers and we never back down, am I right?"

Once again, silence had fallen over the eight of them. Billy was kicking the sand. Katherine had an uneasy look on her face. Tanya was nervously playing with her thumbs. Adam was staring at his feet. Rocky had his hand on the back of his head. Kimberly was anxiously twirling her hair with her finger. But Tommy...

"Jason's right."

All of a sudden, six shocked faces (and a grinning Jason) turned their heads to face the Red Zeo Ranger, a look of grim determination on his face as he looked from Ranger to Ranger, from Pink all the way down to Gold.

"What?", was all Tanya managed to say, nobody else finding the courage to speak up against their leader.

"Jason's right. We need to focus on what's ahead of us, not what's behind us. If Zordon says it's going to happen, it's going to happen. All we can do is plan and anticipate. Get the Zords working to full capacity. Make sure our weapons and other gadgets are working. We need to do anything and everything to make sure that Zedd, Rita, and the Machine Empire don't win. And they won't. Because we're the Power Rangers."

Everyone but Jason, who was still grinning and nodding his head approvingly, stared at Tommy for a moment, his gaze upon them all, not wavering one bit from his stance; there was a reason why he was the leader, and he was showing it right now. One by one though, each of them nodded their heads and went with what Tommy was saying. Kimberly put her hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. It was her way of saying that she would be by his side, no matter what. He looked down into her brown doe eyes and smiled. It was his way of saying thanks. The group stood in a brief moment of silence before Rocky decided to speak up.

"Come on guys, we know what we need to do, but we can worry about it later! We're supposed to be having fun right now, remember? So lets go have some fun!", he said aloud as he stuck his finger in his mouth, swiveled it around for a second, and then proceeded to give Adam a wet willy before making a beeline for the walkway leading back to the boardwalk. Adam shouted out at Rocky and gave chase, while everyone laughed and continued behind them at a slower pace, watching the Blue & Green Zeo Rangers horse around like a couple of fourth graders. As the rest of the group walked back up onto the boardwalk, Tommy felt a hand on his own, and he was turned around to see Kimberly.

"Tommy...", she began, and judging by the tone of her voice, he already knew where this was going; the two of them had promised to have a talk tonight when they were out surfing. And they were gonna have that talk. Just not right now.

"Kim, I didn't forget. I know that you want to talk", he said as calmly as possible.

"Then why don't we talk right now? The rest of them are trying to keep up with Adam and Rocky. We can just meet with them later. Please?" she pleaded with him, but it was for nothing. He would talk. It just wasn't going to be now, whether she liked it or not.

"No, not right now. I wanna go walk around and catch up with the gang, it's been forever since the eight of us all hung out together. I just wanna let loose for a while. I promise though, Kimberly, that we will talk. Is that okay?"

She was a little hurt that he was putting something as big (at least it was big to her) as what she wanted to talk about off, but she knew that was just how her boyfriend worked. There was no use in trying to change it. So she nodded her head and took his hand, locking fingers as they strolled in the direction of their friends.

"Yeah, that's fine. As long as we talk, that's all I care about", she murmured as she gave him a warm smile, one that could brighten up anyone. Tommy squeezed her hand and leaned down, planting a kiss on her forehead as they began to see Jason and Billy in the distance, no doubt laughing at the antics of Rocky and Adam.

"Good. Now c'mon, Pinky. Let's go have some fun."

If they only knew.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_July 21st, 1997._

_The Moon._

Back on the moon, inside of Rita & Zedd's motorhome, which was currently rumbling back to their base of operations, Finster was seen tinkering around with Rito's bone sword, while Rito was snoring like a diesel engine, quite asleep. Goldar was trying his best to drown out the irritating snoring by putting his fingers in his ears and pretending that it wasn't a long trip all the way back to their base. Squatt and Baboo were in the back of the vehicle, quietly chatting amongst themselves about the significance of this partnership with the Machine Empire. Zedd and Rita, however, were dead quiet. Neither had much to say upon exiting the Machine Empire's palace. What was there to say, really? They were putting aside their differences and joining up with Mondo, Machina, Gasket and Archerina to take out the Power Rangers. It was now or never for the two of them. This alliance would either make or break them, and they couldn't really afford to have the latter happen, considering how much they invested in this diabolical plan. Finally though, the silence became too much to bear for Rita, and she turned in her seat to speak to her husband, who was staring straight ahead as he had the wheel tightly gripped in his hands and drove forward like a madman.

"Zeddy, how come you're acting like this? You haven't said a word since we left their palace", she said softly, almost timidly, as she gazed at her husband while the vehicle raged onward.

"I could say the same about you", he muttered as his grip on the steering wheel tightened even more and he increased it's speed by a few more mph's.

"What's the matter? Are you having second thoughts?"

Zedd snorted and then slammed his foot on the break, causing the vehicle to skid across the surface, rocking and swaying back and forth violently as it finally came to a full stop. Everyone but Rito (who was still sleeping and snoring like a truck) and Zedd went flying all over the place. Talking over Finster, Squatt and Baboo's silent murmurs and flat out ignoring Goldar's angered rantings, Zedd faced his wife, who was clinging to her seat for dear life, and did his best to put what he was feeling into words.

"Did I make it that obvious?"

Now that was not the kind of reaction that Rita was expecting from her (usually) hot-headed spouse. She was half expecting him to shout at her and cause a big ruckus, but this....this was different. It was almost scary, and not the kind of scary she was used to.

"Did you make what obvious?"

"My having doubts about this plan. Did I make it obvious?"

"It's obvious that you don't know how to drive!"

**"SHUT UP, GOLDAR!"**

"Did I or did I not, Rita?"

"I...I didn't know you even had second doubts. Why is this? Did you not like how I explained everything? Was is something one of those machines said?"

"No...it was none of that, though I did want to pound that irritating little puke Gasket into the ground more than once...it's...it's those god damned Power Rangers..."

"What about them?"

"I mean, taking care of the other four should be no problem, hell, even Goldar and Rito could dispatch of them if they tried hard enough...but those two...trying to defeat those two is near suicidal."

Rita closed her eyes for a moment and thought about what two specific Rangers that he was talking about, but then it hit her like a blast of energy from a laser pistol; of COURSE!

"You mean that little brat Kimberly and her just as annoying boyfriend Tommy? You mean those two, right?"

All Zedd could do was nod his head slowly, looking defeated in his body movements. She had never seen him like this before, but who could blame him for feeling this way, especially when it came to the Red and Pink Zeo Rangers?

"Hun, you can't let those two get you down. This plan is foolproof. We'll eliminate everyone around them and then attack the two of them and kick them around until they're near death, and then we let Leonard do his work. Not even those two, for as much problems as they've given us in the past, can over come those odds."

"How can you be so fucking sure of yourself, Rita? How?"

"Well...."

"I mean, come on already! Don't even THINK of trying to get my hopes up for this, because trying to defeat that blasted Tommy and that little priss Kimberly is like me asking your damn father for forgiveness! It'll never happen!"

"Zeddykins, please, this isn't like you...where's the fire? Where's the fire? Where's the drive to annihilate the Power Rangers? Where's the passion to want to eradicate Kimberly and Tommy and the rest of them, huh?"

"I lost that drive to want to kill them a long time ago..."

Now that was completely unexpected.

"What did you say, dear?"

"I said I lost the drive to kill those punks long, long ago."

"....When?"

"There was no one specific moment. I thought I had them done. I thought that when the Green Ranger powers were drained for good, I was almost certain that the rest of them would slowly crumble along with their fallen warrior. But then the White Ranger powers were created and they gained new confidence, had their faith rewarded."

"Zeddy..."

But he paid no attention to her words. He stared out the windshield at some rock formations and kept remembering all of the times when he thought he had the Power Rangers at his mercy, only to end up being defeated once more. There were so many times.

"Pirantishead freezing their old Dinozords and turning the Dragonzord and Tyrannosaurus Dinozord against them. Found a way out of that. Guitardo. Had Jason, Zack, Billy and Trini ready to give in. Kimberly and Tommy blew him up. Kidnapped Adam, Rocky and Aisha in hopes of making them my evil warriors. They got set free and became the new Black, Red and Yellow Rangers. Turned them into kids and trappped them in a photograph. That damn bucket of bolts Alpha 5 set them free. Got married to you and locked them in that theater. They found their way out. Released Ivan Ooze from his capsule. Turned on us and ended up getting obliterated by the Ninja Megafalconzord. Brought back the Green Ranger..."

His voice trailed off after that. Along with destroying their Thunderzords and watching as their old Power Coins became useless, bringing back the Green Ranger and watching the clone of Tommy become a good, pure soul ate away at Zedd. He tried righting Rita's wrong. It ended up blowing up in his face, just like everything else. That moment, along with them gaining their new Ninjetti powers, Ninja Coins and Ninja Zords, were the two moments that really, really caused Zedd to lose his ''drive'', so to speak. So many times he had tried, and so many times he had failed. And when he wasn't attacking the entire team, when his attacks were directed at just one Ranger (specifically Tommy and Kimberly), they were always thrown right back in his face.

To be blunt, he had gotten sick of it all and while his actions proved otherwise, he had mentally given up quite a while ago.

"Zeddy, you can't worry yourself or get yourself down over the past. This plan will ruin them! It will finally cause the Power Rangers to give in to evil, and we will finally have what we set out for, and that's total domination over the universe!"

"That's what you think."

"Damn straight that's what I think! Look at yourself! You aren't the man I married! You're not even the man that I used to hate with a deep seated passion! You think that just because you tried to tear them apart before and failed means you can give up!? Hell no! No fucking husband of mine is going to give up on this! We're in this together, Zedd, and by the evil manifested within my soul, we will win this time around!"

Rita's words rang throughout her husband's head. But they didn't register. All the failure...all the big plans backfiring...watching Kimberly and Tommy, along with the rest of the Power Rangers celebrating, rubbing their countless victories in his face....it was just too much for Lord Zedd to bear.

"Don't you get it, Rita? Don't you fucking get it?"

"Don't I get what?"

"The Red, White, Green...whatever color that damn Tommy is, he can't be defeated! We thought he'd fade away when the Green Ranger powers were drained from him, but he came back stronger than ever as the White Ranger! We blow up the Command Center and kill off his Ninja powers, now he's the Red Zeo Ranger and still kicking ass! And that fucking brat Kimberly! The little pink princess, always firing off a smart ass remark and always shoving everything back at us, and always clinging to Tommy's side...don't you fucking get it, Rita!? THOSE TWO CANNOT BE DEFEATED!"

"Now Zeddykins..."

"NO! DON'T EVEN! THOSE TWO ARE INSEPARABLE! THEIR LOVE BONDS THEM TOGETHER LIKE NOTHING I'VE EVER SEEN BEFORE! EVERY TIME WE TRY TO DIVIDE THEM, THEY GROW CLOSER AND CLOSER! THEY CAN NOT AND WILL NOT BE DEFEATED, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES WE TRY!"

Silence now permeated the air in the vehicle as Goldar, Squatt, Baboo and Finster all stared at Zedd in disbelief at what he was saying, while Rito just kept sleeping. Of course. Rita couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her husband...the dark lord of all evil....giving up? No. This had to be a ploy. This had to be some kind of joke on his part. Could he be telling the truth? No. He couldn't be. He just....couldn't be. No way.

The motorhome started up again and before long, they were moving along the surface, nary a word being said between anyone as they rumbled along. Suddenly, Rito jerked in his sleep and lifted himself off the makeshift bed he was sleeping on, rubbing his eyes and looking around at everyone.

"Hey guys! Did I miss--"

Out of nowhere, Rito was cut off as a red light filled up the vehicle, blinding everyone, causing them to shield their eyes as the energy crackled within the home. After a few seconds, a bolt of red lightning appeared and the light disappeared, revealing a horrifying creature standing in the middle of the thing. He looked around, and met eyes with Rita and Zedd's scope, before giving Finster, Baboo, Squatt, Rito and Goldar brief glances. He turned to face the husband and wife and merely nodded his head, his white, whispy hair lazily falling onto his decaying shoulders as his robe waved in the air behind him at his feet.

He was here. Leonard.

"--Anything?"

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Adam and Rocky were trying to outduel each other at Skee Ball. Billy was trying to win Katherine a prize in the claw game, a nice, cute little pink teddy bear. Tanya and Jason were shooting basketballs into the moving hoop, trying to get as many tickets as possible. All while Tommy and Kimberly sat down and smiled at their friends and how much fun they were having. The Pink Ranger then turned to her boyfriend, who was sipping on his Dr. Pepper, and put her hand on his arm, giving it a gentle squeeze, which got his attention. He looked down into her brown doe eyes and smiled, before leaning forward, brushing away some of her hair and kissing her on the forehead. She then moved closer in her seat and leaned up against his side, her head resting on his ribcage as he put his arm around her.

"Look at them all. They're acting like this is the last day they'll be able to have fun with each other", Kimberly said softly as she began to twirl her hair around one of her fingers.

"Yeah, well...it might be", Tommy said as he looked at his friends and teammates. "With what we know and what Zordon has told us, the next few days and months could be some of the most hectic we've ever faced. But you know what..."

"We'll beat 'em. We always do."

"Exactly."

Kimberly shifted her head so that she was looking up at Tommy's face, and she gave him the kind of reassuring smile that only she could give. He gazed at her lovingly and the two shared a tender, romantic kiss, oblivious to the world around them. They broke it off quickly thereafter, and Kimberly figured now would be as good a time as any to speak to her boyfriend about what she had been wanting to talk to him about.

"Tommy...can we talk now?"

Tommy sighed. He couldn't avoid it anymore. It was best to just get it out of the way.

"Alright, Kim. We can talk now. Hey guys, me and Kimberly are gonna go for a walk on the boardwalk, we'll meet up with ya later, alright?", Tommy called out to his friends as they all nodded their heads and went back to what they were doing. The two lovebirds then got up from their seats and made their way onto the boardwalk, looking for a private place to talk.

If only they had seen the Cogs that were spying on them from the storage room in the arcade....


End file.
